This election season couldn’t be over soon enough. This fall’s music has offered both a respite from the political ugliness and also has spoken straight to the urgency of it like the David Egger’s led 30 days for 30 songs now 40 songs in 40 days for a Trump-free America. Whether you are feeling righteous anger towards this election cycle, feeling existential and maybe a little hopeless, or just seeking some peace and quiet, this fall has delivered good music for all three. Here are a few of my favorites.

Amber Coffman – “All To Myself”

The eclectic Dirty Projectors have been one of my favorite bands in the last 10 years, and I’ve always thought their guitarist and co-vocalist Amber Coffman should split off for a solo career. She finally has here in 2016, with a solo album to come soon, but led by “All To Myself” a lovely mid-tempo ballad which isn’t a far cry from her sound in Dirty Projectors. The Dirty Projectors themselves are coming out with an album soon, and it appears based on their lead single, frontman Dave Longstreth doesn’t seem too pleased about Coffman going solo.

Moses Sumney – “Worth It”

LA’s Moses Sumney is one of the more refreshing up-and-coming artists today, mixing soul and folk in creative ways. A Sufjan Stevens touring mate and disciple, Sumney’s songwriting is similarly informed by his faith, with his debut EP Lamentations finding him wrestling with God, and lead single “Worth It” sort of being an open-hearted, auto-tuned confessional.

Jim James – “Same Old Lie”

My Morning Jacket’s Jim James’ musical heroes (Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sly Stone, Roger Waters) have a knack for writing politically urgent yet timeless lyrics to fit their time and to last beyond. James strikes that balance well on his first single “Same Old Lie” for his upcoming second solo album Eternally Even, singing a Mayfield-esque protest against the hatred and violence that perpetrates our world.

Swet Shop Boys – “T5”

One of the most surprising new duos in music is Swet Shop Boys, which combines world-class British actor Rez Ahmed aka Rez MC (hot off starring in HBO’s stellar Night Of and soon to be star in Star Wars Rogue One) with Himanshu Kumar Suri aka Heems 1/3rd of goofball rap troupe Das Racist. What the two have in common is being of South Asian descent, with Heems being an Indian-American from Queens and Rez being a Pakistani-Brit from London. On “T5”, the two furiously and humorously break down what it’s like to be brown post 9/11, facing Islamophobia, xenophobia, government surveillance, racial profiling at the airport, and much more.

Nick Cave – “Skeleton Tree”

For those feeling straight-up existential and depressed this election, maybe wait to listen to Nick Cave’s latest Skeleton Tree until November 9th. While Skeleton Tree is certainly the saddest listen of 2016, it is also the most moving and human. In the summer of 2015, Cave experienced unbearable tragedy with the loss of his 15 year old son Arthur who fell of a cliff to his death while on LSD. This happened in the middle of the recording of Skeleton Tree, and was captured in Andrew Domenik’s black-and-white documentary One More Time With Feeling.Over spare piano ballads, Cave pours out his soul, the sort of primal scream album like John Lennon’s therapeutic Plastic Ono Band. It’s certainly not for everyone, but music was made for healing, and hearing Cave work out his tragedy can help someone else going through hardship to know they aren’t alone.

New Orleans-born and L.A.-raised Frank Ocean has been one of the most consistently interesting and mysterious pop stars of the 2010’s. After helping shape the sound of boundary-pushing and controversial L.A. rap collective Odd Future, Ocean released his first mixtape, Nostalgia Ultra in 2011. Frank Ocean was then highly featured and highly involved in the production of the blockbuster rap collaboration of Jay-Z and Kanye West on Watch the Throne, before finally splashing with his debut album, Channel Orange. The album showcased Ocean as one of the brightest young songwriters around, echoing Prince and Stevie Wonder at their very best, and setting the groundwork for a legendary career as a singer and songwriter.

To add even more intrigue, Ocean came out in a letter on his website which corresponded almost directly with Channel Orange’s album release. Then Ocean pretty much disappeared from the spotlight for four years, before suddenly teasing a new album titled Boys Don’t Cry to release August 12th. The day came and went, and then a week later, Ocean dropped two albums on Apple Music, a visual album called Endless and Blonde, the studio follow-up to Channel Orange. He also ended up releasing a Boys Don’t Cry zine that he released for sale at various music stores around the country which includes an entirely different version of Blonde. I guess the extra week was worth the wait. So after four years, was it really worth all the wait and hype? Yes and no.

Some fans were so disappointed with Frank for not releasing his album on 8/12 that they signed a boycott. Some fans need to get a life.

I’ll start with no. The answer would be no mostly from the standpoint that neither Blonde nor Endless is the pop smash album that everyone was salivating for. In a world that demands social buzz and meme-ability, Frank Ocean provided a mood album set to the building of a staircase in black and white (not exactly sharable) and a fairly low-key, vulnerable release in Blonde lacking any big hits or beats (not exactly a Drake or Taylor Swift record). Blonde is also filled with a handful of skits (which people almost never like) and also a star-studded cast (Beyoncé, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Kanye, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell) though you can barely identify their imprint beyond Andre 3000 of Outkast’s starburst of a rap on “Solo (Reprise).”

But really the answer now and over the long haul will be yes. Endless and Blonde are most certainly slow burns, but full of novel musical ideas, their own undeniable sound, and a vulnerability that so few artists can reach.

Endless largely feels more like a table-setter, which is how it was used on the two albums release weekend coming out the night before Blonde. It’s melodies don’t burn as bright, and without any easy track list to grab, it stands as more of a mood statement and conversation piece than anything. There are still notable moments. “U-N-I-T-Y” has Frank flashing his rap skills for really the first and only time on both Blonde and Endless. At the album’s close, Frank splits into Pet Shop Boys mode on “Higgs”, a chic, bass-heavy form of new wave which really breaks the album up for its most hypnotic stretch. It’s a very varied album but feels very seamless and of one piece even if a little less memorable than Blonde.

Blonde feels like the proper follow-up to Channel Orange and where Ocean focused his time and energy: the production is crisp and exact, everything feels as it should be, where Endless feels more like a mix tape of sorts. Lead single “Nike” definitely sets the tone of the beautifully spare sound to expect on Blonde: processed but expressive vocals, bright and airy arrangements, and mood-led songs lacking the major hooks of Nostalgia Ultra and Channel Orange. You won’t find yourself singing choruses but rather getting little moments and lines stuck in your head: it’s certainly catchy if unconventionally so.

While other black artists like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar are making bold statements about the unjust world we find ourselves in, Frank Ocean isn’t focused on racial injustice beyond the occasional empathetic passing line on Blonde (“R.I.P. Trayvon, that n**ga look just like me”). That doesn’t make Ocean’s album any less ambitious: Ocean feels like the millennial descendant of Stevie Wonder to me. He’s making music that fits well in this world and this time, but it’s soft-hearted, musically sophisticated, and ultimately exploring a brighter future. If Channel Orange was his Songs In the Key of Life, Blonde is his Innervisions but without the funk and the hits. The slightly strange-sounding ballads like “Ivy”, “Nights”, and “White Ferrari” really feel like something Stevie could have released if he was born 40 years later.

Frank also brings the church into his music like Stevie especially on “Skyline To” and “Godspeed”. He sings with an open-voice that is pretty rare to find outside gospel and truly draws you in. “Godspeed” opens with a piano line that sounds like it could be worship anthem “Revelation Song” before splitting into the open-armed love song it is. All the weird production tricks serve as an interesting counter to the nakedness of Ocean’s voice: he remains vulnerable and open to love even as the noise attempts to break him.

I’ve said this before, but the most interesting work being done these last few years is in R&B. Beyoncé, Janelle Monae, Frank Ocean, D’Angelo, Bon Iver, FKA Twigs, Thundercat and even Kendrick to some extent (though he’s pushing hip hop and beyond) are making timeless and timely artistic statements both musically and lyrically. Frank Ocean isn’t looking to make the big attention-grabbing statement, but is special for just being himself.

Frankly, 2016 has been an awful year. It has felt like every news cycle brings a new tragedy: black lives being taken from police brutality in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, police being shot in Dallas, and ISIS attacks in Baghdad, Istanbul, Orlando, Brussels, and San Bernadino. Fear, hatred, and anger is the language of the day and in the U.S. Election and Brexit. Voices of ignorance and arrogance drown out those of love, courage, and unity.

While there is still certainly plenty of reason for protest and fighting for justice, sometimes we all just deeply long for peace and for all the madness to end. Music can bring a sense of healing and peace of mind like nothing else.

These for the most part aren’t anti-war or protest songs (we’ve been there before), but these are songs pointing to a brighter future, plain and simple. So for myself and anyone who needs a little bit of hope, here are my favorite songs for peace.

If you are a frequent event attender like myself, you have probably gotten a handful of emails with the subject line “Schlesinger v. Ticketmaster Settlement.” This was a class-action lawsuit where someone actually took ticket monopoly Ticketmaster on and sued them for all their excessive and deceptive “processing” fees.

For once, the good guys won and anyone who ordered tickets between October 21, 1999 and February 27, 2013 can benefit from the lawsuit. The problem is very much on how the settlement payout is being distributed, which feels very much on Ticketmaster’s terms.

For each transaction you get a measly $2.25 coupon code per transaction you made up to 17 (for myself, I had the full 17 equaling $38.25).

Depending on your past transactions and whether you had tickets shipped, you could also receive $5 UPS discount code for sending tickets, which is largely useless since most people just do print-at-home or mobile tickets these days.

The biggest win appears to be the $5M in free tickets that Ticketmaster is distributing to customers, which again, you can get up to 17. I got 17 of these free general admission tickets, but the problem is Ticketmaster is calling the shots on which shows it applies to.

The first round of shows the free tickets applied to was released in mid-June, but turned out to be a who’s who of who you don’t want to see. Most cities didn’t even get shows, and the ones that did, only had shows included at big outdoor amphitheaters like the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL or the Klipsch Music Center in Noblesville, IN, venues that get washed-up legacy acts (Def Leppard, Heart, Hall & Oates, Rob Thomas), mainstream country (which is great if you are a country fan, but not helpful if you aren’t), or just straight-up bad 90’s rock acts (Buckcherry, Slipknot, Korn, Rob Thomas). The only consistency seems to be that these are shows that are super unlikely to sell out (so not really affecting Ticketmaster’s bottom line), and Ticketmaster is only giving away a handful of free tickets for each show.

Here’s Stephen Colbert speaking about how lame the options are:

Even at this moment, all of the shows listed are sold out of vouchers, meaning if you want to use your free vouchers, you have to continually check back this website (http://concerts.livenation.com/microsite/settlement) and just hope a show comes up that you actually want to go to AND it isn’t already sold out of vouchers.

Also when it comes to the $2.25 coupon code, this is such a small amount that Ticketmaster has to be thinking this just incentivizes customers to use and buy tickets on Ticketmaster with very little effect on their profit.

So while I’m glad someone actually stuck it to Ticketmaster, it still seems like the music fan barely benefits from this. Fortunately, it seems like there has been a ton of improvement and additional competition over the past few years, with many smaller venues handling their own ticket sales through their websites, other sites like Ticketfly and Brown Paper Tickets taking off, and secondary market sites like Seatgeek reaching new heights. I used to be stuck using Ticketmaster for purchases 3-5 times a year, and thank the Lord, I can’t tell you the last time I had to use Ticketmaster. There is hope for a better ticket world yet.

There are only a few acts in rock history that have been able to shape-shift and stay both relevant and innovative over a 20 year span. American chameleon Beck is certainly one, with his incredible new summer jam “Wow” certainly being an example of that, but Radiohead is the most notable from across the pond. Radiohead’s new album A Moon Shaped Pool is an extension of that continued innovation, building out beautiful and dissonant orchestration into the band’s sound, influenced by the experimental film scores done by guitarist Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice). All three of us were at the perfect ages for Radiohead to really take hold (though it only took hold with two of us), with Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief releasing during our high school years and In Rainbows releasing in our college years. So without further ado, our 10 favorite songs for a band we hold dear.

10. “Give Up the Ghost”

Radiohead has built its reputation on being weird, electronic, and experimental, but the band does beautiful ballads as well as anyone. The hypnotic looping of “Give Up the Ghost” is the perfect example of Radiohead at their most emotionally resonant. The first time I saw this live a year before the release of King of Limbs, there wasn’t a single person not transfixed to the stage during it.

9. “Burn the Witch”

The lead track off of the Radiohead’s latest, “Burn the Witch” combines beautiful yet jarring orchestration with piercing political commentary. Thom Yorke often speaks caustically to the political climate of our time, but he has never done so more poetically than “Burn the Witch”

8. “There There”

In the beginning of the George W. Bush’s presidency, Radiohead released Hail to the Thief, calling out our world’s leaders years before the reality of all the corruption, greed, and unjust war became clear. “There There” comes off as snappy and playful as Radiohead gets, but its soaked with the impending doom right around the corner.

7. “Pyramid Song”

Like I said before with “Give up the Ghost”, Radiohead does piano ballads in a way that just makes you float off your feet. “Pyramid Song” feels like floating into another dimension.

6. “Reckoner”

The crash of percussion and the still, harp-like guitar riff announces “Reckoner”, one of Radiohead’s most arresting songs off of their most colorful album, In Rainbows. The way “Reckoner” grows and shifts is just picture perfect: every piece of instrumentation in just the right place.

5. “Electioneering”

“Electioneering” is Radiohead at their most manic and chaotic. Early in their years of writing politically, the band sounds as urgent as ever on “Electioneering”.

4. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”

One look at the alien-like individual that is Thom Yorke, and you wouldn’t think of him as a hopeless romantic. And certainly he’s not, but Yorke writes some of the most moving love songs around. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” is a simply gorgeous love song that is hard not to get wrapped into.

“Paranoid Android”

Inspired by The Beatles “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “Paranoid Android” is really three different songs fused into one blazingly epic song cycle.

“Idioteque”

As much as Radiohead breaks ground on every album, Kid A may be the only one that truly transformed music, ushering in an era where electronics, experimentation, and rock all belonged together. “Idioteque” is a disco for the apocalypse.

“Everything In It’s Right Place”

“Everything In Its Right Place” is really a perfect song. It’s beautiful, alarming, and creepy all at once. It combines all of Radiohead’s best elements: bold experimentation, arresting vocals, and abstract yet expressive lyrics.

Just Missed:

Austin – “Codex”

Austin is the only one of us that isn’t a Radiohead nut, but he does find enjoyment in King of Limbs. “Codex” sort of hearkens back to the best piano ballads from Pink Floyd, a band that Austin certainly cherishes.

Todd – “Life in a Glass House”

Todd loves his jazz and “Life in a Glass House” is a swinging, messy jazz tune and an interesting genre departure for Radiohead.

Wes – “Street Spirit…Fade Out”

The Bends may have been Radiohead’s second album in 1995, but it was really their first as the bold, experimental band we know today. “Street Spirit…Fade Out” is one of my favorite album closers period: its pacing, restless and just doesn’t want you to leave or stop listening.

In a year where politicians are promising to make things great again, the same could possibly be said about rock music. Like America, rock may no longer be the center of attention, rock critics constantly looking for a savior to bring rock back into the mainstream.

While rock has been great all this time (with great acts like St. Vincent, Tame Impala, Parquet Courts, Savages to name a few.), there are still certain sparks that remind me of rock in the days of my youth, when it sounded vibrant and exciting like nothing else. 23-year-old Virginian Will Toledo is in the days of his youth and writes about youth like few others: on his first two albums 2015’s Teens of Style and now 2016’s Teens of Denial. Teens of Style was indeed stylish, the sound of a twentysomething songwriting genius writing Strokes-style songs in his garage. Teens of Denial has plenty of thrilling rock songs, but there is also incredible songwriting craft and compositional ambition on Teens of Denial: an absolute magnum opus about youth and young manhood.

Teens of Style is a concept record about a character named Joe as he faces emergent adulthood. On Teens of Denial, Toledosings each song like it could be life and death (which is how it feels as a teenager), in the same way Springsteen sounded on Born to Run or the Replacements on Let It Be. Obviously those are lofty comparisons, but at times Teens of Denial sounds and feels the part of an instant classic. Even with so much seemingly at stake in songs like “Unforgiving Girl (She’s Not An)” and “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales”, Toledo maintains a dry wit throughout, throwing out funny one-liners here and there to keep it grounded.

Toledo knows how to do epic songs the right way: not in a cheesy, ridiculous, or snobby way, but songs that strap you into a roller coaster, and make you want to ride over and over even when you know which twists and turns are coming. From the opening bending riff of “Vincent”, it’s clear you really need to strap in, especially as each instrument comes in and picks up speed, until you are hurled around in a shroud of noise that you hope never ends. “The Ballad of Costa Concordia” is 11-minute mini-song cycle filled with moments of sobriety, eagerness, apathy, and pure bliss – really the full encapsulation of feelings of adolescence – topped off with a refrain from Dido’s “White Flag” to capture the disillusionment of millennials. On “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales”, juxtaposes two seemingly dissimilar subjects, the aforementioned drunk drivers and killer whales, then uses them as a comparison to himself and teens like himself: an out-of-control, unpredictable danger to themselves and those around them. Toledo laments “We are not a proud race/It’s not a race at all/We’re just trying/I’m only trying to get home.”

Sonically, Car Seat Headrest isn’t reinventing the wheel but sort of taking pieces of the best indie rock in the past few decades: the rock drive and observations of youth in America like The Hold Steady, cool apathy and catchy rock melodies like the Strokes, and bombastic and unconventional songs and bookish smart lyrics like Okkervil River.

This is a big reason why people are excited about Car Seat Headrest. The world of “indie rock” as it was known in the early 21st century is not what it used to be, and Car Seat Headrest is being held up as our last big hope to take indie rock’s place in the world back. While Will Toledo may not be a racist, misogynist bully or indie rock’s savior, he is another excellent young rock talent that shows rock will remain vibrant, even if it’s on the margins. Independent rock can be great, even when it’s not the coolest and biggest kid on the block.

This spring has been full of musical surprises like no other year. Five major artists announced and released albums as a surprise on short notice, and instead of breaking each of them down in separate reviews, we thought it best to rank and mini-review each album. So here are our spring 2016 surprise album power rankings.

5. Drake – Views

Surprise Level:

Since Drake’s 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late and his phone jam “Hotline Bling”, people have been anticipating the tentatively-titled Views from the 6 for almost two years. Then on April 4th, Drake finally announced the album with a slightly shortened title, Views. The album finally dropped at midnight on April 28th exclusively in Apple Music.

Best Moments: “One Dance”, “Child’s Play”, “Hotline Bling”

After two years of anticipation of a big Drake magnum opus, Views is certainly ambitious at 20 songs but falls flat. Drake seems stuck in neutral for his past few releases, unable to move forward emotionally or musically.

The album suffers from being about 8 songs too long and some poor sequencing as well. The album only picks up speed about 10 songs in, when its biggest highlights hit. “Child’s Play” has Drake singing playfully about America’s favorite restaurant, “One Dance” is Drake picking up the dancehall vibe and running with it, and “Hotline Bling” which was tacked on the end of the album to just boost some sales. Mostly Views is severely disappointing.

Verdict: Leave Drake alone on his perch.

4. James Blake – The Colour In Anything

Surprise Level:

In November 2014, the neo-soul electronic musician James Blake said he was mostly done with his third album and it would be released in spring 2015. This, of course, didn’t happen. In February 2015, some rumors surfaced that the album would finally be coming out soon but without a date. On April 28th, Blake released some photos on his social media revealing the album title, and then a few days later on May 6th, Blake released the album at midnight.

James Blake is someone I have been lukewarm on for two albums, but his latest, The Colour In Anything, showcases why he’s one of the most sonically interesting musicians around. Beyond having a smooth and soulful voice, Blake undercuts and contrasts his voice with an incredible range of sonic distortion, electronic dissonance, and range in audio dynamics, going from extremely soft and sweet to an all-out alarming mix of noise.

Blake also knows how to build a hypnotic and arresting album like few others. “Love Me In Whatever Way” is a great example of how James repeats a phrase as the sonic waves build higher and higher before consuming him. “Timeless” showcases his ability to pick a variety of seemingly dissonant sounds that whirl together in wonderful and interesting ways. “I Hope My Life” takes the cold synth-pop of 80’s greats like the Eurythmics and the Pet Shop Boys to great new heights.

Verdict: Give James a(nother) shot

3. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

Surprise Level:

Experimental rock greats Radiohead are a band that certainly needs no introduction, and a band that is known for experimenting with surprise releases ever since 2007’s In Rainbows when the band allowed fans to “pay what you want” for the album.

The latest release cycle started on May 1st when the band deleted their internet presence entirely, deleting all posts from their social media and taking their site Dead Air Space down. Then the band released teaser videos on May 3rd before finally releasing the first single and video “Burn the Witch.” A couple days later (May 6th), they released a second single and another video, this time the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed (There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, Magnolia) video for “Daydreaming.” The same day the band announced the albums release on May 8th, where the album A Moon Shaped Pool, was released on all streaming and download services including Apple Music, Google, and Spotify, which Radiohead and previously criticized and kept their music off of.

The best comparison for Radiohead’s latest is 2007’s In Rainbows, where Radiohead created a truly beautiful record. In the same way, A Moon Shaped Pool has plenty of experimentation (primarily from the dissonant strings and orchestration of guitarist Jonny Greenwood) but at its core, it’s pretty Radiohead: Thom Yorke singing tenderly over lush piano and orchestration singing with tenderness and urgency.

Lead track and single “Burn the Witch” was a song made for our times. Over menacing strings, the song drives an arrow through our irrational, witch-hunting, outrage culture which has led to this insane political climate and social media mess we live in. Like much of Radiohead’s music, the album drips with the danger of an impending apocalypse, the darkness lurking right around the corner.

A Moon Shaped Pool is one of their most listenable albums, but also subtly brilliant in its detail. These little touches and flourishes on each song take these songs from good to great. “Identikit”, which was produced in Jack White’s Third Man studios, showcases the sophistication of drummer Phil Selway and each player adds layers of complement and turmoil. “Decks Dark” has almost an operatic tension as the haunting choir is a cloud hovering over Thom Yorke’s voice and piano.

“True Love Waits” is an incredible example of Radiohead’s timing and brilliance. The song was written in in 1995 and has been played occasionally live, but has never found an album home. Now, 21 years later, “True Love Waits” is the perfect, poignant close to Radiohead’s prettiest album.

Verdict: The rock champs are back

Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book

Surprise Level:

Chicago rapper and pride of the South Side Chance the Rapper released his third mixtape Coloring Book at 11PM on May 12th. The mixtape was initially announced to release soon on April 4th, with Chance announcing the official release date on his live TV debut of “Blessings”, his second single off the mixtape (“Angels” was released and performed on ate night month’s earlier). The album released exclusively on Apple Music for two weeks, giving Apple another leg up towards catching Spotify in the streaming races.

Taking some notes from his musical hero and fellow Chicagoan Kanye West, Coloring Book is an ambitious step forward for Chance and similarly straddles the secular and spiritual like much of Kanye’s work. Chance, though, leans heavily on the side of spiritual, since Coloring Book is more gospel as the main course with a side of hip hop and R&B. Chance’s mix of the best in hip hop and R&B production into gospel breathes new and fresh life into a genre of music that played an incredibly important role in the formation of rock ‘n’ roll and soul.

Chance takes his child-like faith and boundless joy and puts it on record for all to hear, also showcasing the best of his home community. Turning on the nightly news, you tend to hear nothing but sad stories from the South Side of Chicago, but Chance paints a different story: a talented community filled with hope in the face of adversity, and faith that can move mountains. “No Problem” just jumps out of your earbuds with joy, “Summer Friends” snaps and crackles with incredible production with an assist from Francis and the Lights, and “How Great” somehow takes CCM anthem “How Great Is Our God”, auto-tunes it, adds a bunch of clever bible rhymes (“The type of worship make Jesus come back a day early”) and actually makes it sound cool and not corny. I’ve heard from a handful of people who were Chance skeptics who have said Coloring Book has made them believers.

Verdict: Glory Glory! Hail the new king of Chicago rap

1. Beyoncé – Lemonade

Surprise Level:

Beyoncé released lead single “Formation” right before her Superbowl performance in Feburary, making millions come to the shocking revelation that Beyoncé is black. Beyoncé then announced a mysterious video project on HBO called “Lemonade”, and turns out it was the debut of her new visual album Lemonade. The brilliance of Lemonade as a visual experience and piece of musical expression instantly made the internet go crazy, as did the witch hunt from Beyoncé’s fan base to find the woman that Jay-Z cheated on Beyoncé with. President Obama could cheat on Michelle and it would be less of a thing.

Beyoncé’s last album was a self-titled surprise release during the holiday season in 2014, another visual album with a different video for each song. Lemonade, is a truly cohesive musical film, as Beyoncé wrestles with her husband’s infidelity in 11 different emotional phases (Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, and Hope and Redemption). Beyond looking as good as Terence Malick’s Tree of Life, Lemonade explores more musical flavors than any album before. “Hold Up” has Beyoncé on the verge of losing it with a reggae-tinged reworking of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps” by saying “Hold up, they don’t love you like I love you.” “Don’t Hurt Yourself” is Beyoncé finally letting her anger free with a thrashing rock track with the help of Jack White. “Daddy Lessons” is a southern-gospel flavored country tune with singing about her childhood. “Freedom” is an empowering anthem for anyone with obstacles to overcome, and specifically with the help of “Kendrick Lamar”, stands as an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement.

It’s incredibly rare for someone to reach their artistic peak nearly 20 years into their career, but Beyoncé is finally reaching her creative peak, and it’s awesome to hear.

Verdict: Beyoncé accomplished what Kanye couldn’t: making people buy Tidal and not be angry about it.